Robert Musil(click on names to see more mathematical fiction
by the same author)

Highly Rated!

The hero of this landmark of Modernism is a mathematician. The author,
Austrian Robert Musil, studied mathematics and philosophy in college.

Contributed by
anonymous

"Life-changing view of how to live. The finest work I've known. Pure
logic leading to philosophy and morality."

Contributed by
Austin

There are two translations of this work. The one mentioned here is the newer, and by far the inferior. Ex.: Those who know German will chafe at reading "Seinesgleiches geschieht" translated as "Psuedoreality Prevails"; the old translators, Eithne Wilkins and Ernst Kaiser, much more reasonably rendered it as "The like of it now happens," which preserves the intended ambiguity.

Contributed by
James Bashkin

I thought this was a tremendous book. I read a Picador publication of it, if I remember correctly. I'll have to figure out which translation it was (I read it in about 1980). Apparently a relatively new translation is available (making three, perhaps?). There was a play based on The Man Without Qualities that toured England in the late 1970's or early 80's that I also saw. The play received terrible reviews, but I thought it was OK.

Well, once again I have to say that I didn't think much about math while reading this, but I was young... Maybe I did think about math and just forgot... Anyway, this is a must read, and now I think I'll need to read it again with the benefit of your comments!

Your Help Needed: Some site visitors remember reading works of mathematical fiction that neither they nor I can identify. It is time to crowdsource this problem and ask for your help! You would help a neighbor find a missing pet...can't you also help a fellow site visitor find some missing works of mathematical fiction? Please take a look and let us know if you have seen these missing stories anywhere!.